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Updated at 2:45 p. m. Monday
The Oakland Roots will play their home games in 2025 at the Coliseum, the football team announced Monday, assuring that professional sports will continue one more year in the historic stadium following the A’s departure to West Sacramento.
Meanwhile, the club is conducting negotiations with Oakland and Alameda County for a 10,000-seat transient stadium in the adjacent Malibu parking lot for the purpose of opening for the 2026 season, officials said in a news release. The team requested permission to build the modular stadium, which would serve as their home for 10 years.
“This club was founded for one purpose: to harness the magic of Oakland and the power of sports as a force for social good,” Oakland Roots President Lindsay Barenz said at a press convention Monday. “I can’t think of a better expression of that. ” “Its purpose is to make sure we continue to be the sport, the jobs, the investment and the joy here in East Oakland. “
The Roots play in the USL Championship, the second-tier department of men’s professional soccer in the United States. Her plans for a stadium on the grounds of Malibu would come with the Oakland Soul, a professional women’s team in the USL Super League.
Barenz noted that the women’s team is on track to sign up for the Oakland Roots as soon as a long-term deal is reached with the stadium. This will be the first time that women’s professional football will be represented in the city.
“Roots and Soul radiate Oakland pride online and every time they step on the field. They are a franchise of style and the city’s global ambassadors to the soccer world,” Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said in a statement. of press. “I am delighted that they have chosen to invest in Oakland and make our city their home. “
The Coliseum is being sold to a local organization of black-owned developers with plans for housing, green space, entertainment and retail. Last week, the A’s announced an agreement to sell their 50% stake in the venue to the African American Sports and Entertainment Group, or AASEG, following a similar agreement for the other party concluded through the city of Oakland.
The acquisition of the Colosseum through AASEG means that, for the first time in recent history, the assets will have a single owner. According to Thao, this will allow the organization to better meet the wishes of the team and the community.
“The timing was not accidental,” Ray Bobbitt, founder and managing member of AASEG, said of the group’s acquisition of the site. “We understand the vision and possibilities of the site, so we are excited. »
As for returning jobs to the community, it is hoped that the Roots playing at the Coliseum will mean greater opportunities for nearby Oakland residents. Although Bobbitt pointed out that the exact number of staff and suppliers is still being determined. our minds through AASEG and Roots, speculated that they will be similar to those of the A’s when they occupied the facility. The A’s filed formal layoff notices for 415 employees of the Coliseum team in July.
Next year’s games at the Coliseum will bring the Roots back to Oakland for the first time since 2022, when they moved from Laney College to Cal State East Bay’s Pioneer Stadium in Hayward. As part of the USL Championship, the Roots will play at least 17 home games at the Coliseum in the 2025 season.
“When I had the opportunity to come home and play my last few seasons with the Colis, it was special,” said Marshawn Lynch, a former NFL player and Oakland local who is part of the Roots’ ownership group. “I won the OAL titles there with Oakland Tech. What this construction means to Oakland and to the culture is everything. Now we have the Roots moving in and we’re going to do it.
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